PALATKA, Fla. — Money mismanagement and fraud allegations have the state stepping in to audit a local county.
It all stems from complaints filed with a state leader by taxpayers. One of the allegations in the report said the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office bought a car for its fleet, paying $45,000 when the car was worth $25,000. But county leaders tell us they aren’t buying the allegations.
Peter Myers has lived in Putnam County for more than 60 years. “Yeah there's favoritism. It's who you know in this town,” said Myers.
That's why he wasn't surprised to learn the state is coming in to audit what both the county and city governments have done for the last three years. State Rep. Charles Van Zant said taxpayers have made complaints to him about money mismanagement.
He said documents he's received say companies are being paid multiple times for the same project. They also question where $8 million for two projects went.
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We first went to the city of Palatka for their response. City manager Terry Suggs answered our questions and said they’re not concerned. “The best thing we can do is do an internal audit ourselves,” said Suggs.
So the city is. Only one commissioner told us he supports the state audit. Two others said it's a waste of time and resources.
“It’s just a handful of citizens and they seem to have an agenda of their own on how we should operate,” said Commissioner Chip Laibl.
“I think they'll find Putnam County is very competent,” said Commissioner Karl Flagg.
Van Zant told us over the phone, "The complaints are real." There is no word on how long the audit will take. Click here to view the complaints.
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